By Clementina Chery
Special to The Reporter
The violence of the July Fourth weekend has left our city grieving once again.
My heart aches for everyone who was injured, every family whose loved one was killed, every officer, EMT, firefighter, physician, nurse, advocate, chaplain, and outreach worker who responded, and every resident questioning what it will take to build safer neighborhoods.
These moments prompt urgent questions. How did this happen? What went wrong? Who’s responsible?
If we limit our answers to the events of one weekend, we risk overlooking the larger story. Neither illegal fireworks nor one holiday caused violence. Nor, solely, did illegal firearms.
Those factors contribute to individual incidents, but don’t explain the patterns we have witnessed for decades. Violence rises and falls in ways that reflect deeper social conditions, concentrated trauma, access to resources, and community investment. If we want a safer Boston, we must allow data—not emotion or politics—to guide our decisions.
More than 30 years ago, Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith challenged us to recognize violence as a public health issue. Violence is not random, she reminded us, but rather, it follows identifiable patterns, has measurable risks, and can be prevented through evidence-based solutions.
Her wisdom remains relevant today. Fortunately, Boston is not beginning from scratch.
For decades, we’ve invested in prevention, intervention, enforcement, trauma services, youth and community outreach, and neighborhood partnerships. Researchers, hospitals, educators, faith leaders, civic organizations, survivors, police, returning citizens, and public officials have all contributed to making Boston safer.
We should strengthen, not abandon, that work. This is a time for learning, not blame. As elected officials discuss a comprehensive public safety strategy, this moment presents an opportunity to build upon decades of research, lived experience, and successful partnerships. We should focus on five priorities.
First, let data guide decisions. A comprehensive review of homicides, shootings, and violent crime over the past 10 years can help us understand where and when violence occurred, who was impacted, what interventions existed, and where important gaps remain. Evidence should shape policy.
Second, strengthen what already works. Before creating new initiatives, we should evaluate successful programs, reinforce proven partnerships, and improve systems already serving our communities.
Third, recognize community as an equal public safety partner. Government and law enforcement cannot, on their own, create safe neighborhoods. Community members have relationships and experience that government cannot replicate. Public safety succeeds when every sector works together.
Fourth—and most importantly—we must recognize Survivor-Centered Homicide Response as an essential public safety function. Too often, public safety conversations end when the police investigation begins. But for families whose loved one has been murdered, another journey has only just begun.
Someone must help identify the body. Someone must explain the criminal justice process. Someone must help plan a funeral. Someone must support children who suddenly have no parent. Someone must walk beside families through court proceedings, anniversaries, holidays, convictions, appeals, parole, probation, and, at times, wrongful convictions. And through years of grief.
Throughout more than 30 years of partnering with all stakeholders to transform society’s response to homicide, the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute has learned that survivor-centered response is a core public safety responsibility. The measure of effective public safety includes how faithfully we care for those left behind.
Finally, we must invest in community healing. Every homicide affects far more people than the victim. From 2019 to 2025, Boston experienced 268 homicides. Each life lost creates a ripple of trauma that extends throughout families and communities. We estimate that every homicide directly impacts between 50 and 100 surviving family, friends, neighbors, and others.
Doing the math suggests those 268 homicides represent an estimated 13,400 to 26,800 survivors. They are children, grandparents, siblings, spouses, neighbors, friends, witnesses, teachers, coworkers, first responders, medical professionals, and entire communities whose lives are forever changed. While homicide numbers fluctuate from year to year, the number of survivors continues to grow. Healing is not simply a compassionate response—it is central to public safety.
A comprehensive strategy should rest on five pillars: Prevention; Intervention; Enforcement; Survivor-Centered Homicide Response; and Community Healing and Restoration. These complementary components protect life, support healing, strengthen neighborhoods, and create safer communities for future generations.
The Peace Institute stands ready to partner with the city, police, prosecutors, hospitals, schools, faith institutions, researchers, and community organizations as our city continues to strengthen its public safety strategy. We offer more than three decades’ experience in survivor-centered homicide response, trauma-informed practice, community healing, policy development, training, technical assistance, and cross-sector collaboration.
We invite the mayor, city councillors, the district attorney, police, state legislators, and public officials across the Commonwealth to participate in survivor-centered homicide response training. Together, we can explore what families need after a homicide, examine promising practices, strengthen partnerships, and ensure that a focus on survivors becomes a permanent part of Boston’s public safety framework. The true measure of public safety is not only how many lives we save, but how faithfully we care for every life forever changed by homicide.
Clementina Chery is president and chief executive officer of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute.
